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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23978488">The Spirit of Giving</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/queenbanshee/pseuds/bansheequeen'>bansheequeen (queenbanshee)</a>, <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/xtremeroswellian/pseuds/xtremeroswellian'>xtremeroswellian</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The High School Series [8]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Smallville</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>And Chloe wants to solve the mystery, Chloe isn't used to being confused, Christmas, F/M, Gen, He just pretends he doesn't sometimes, Oliver Queen has a heart, Oliver Queen is an enigma, Texting, Truces, volunteering</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 19:06:46</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>13,382</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23978488</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/queenbanshee/pseuds/bansheequeen, https://archiveofourown.org/users/xtremeroswellian/pseuds/xtremeroswellian</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Chloe and Oliver have a surprise encounter that leads them to call a truce for the time being.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Oliver Queen/Chloe Sullivan</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The High School Series [8]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1728691</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“All right, class, settle down,” Mrs. Stocks said, shaking her head a little. “We have just under a week until Christmas break officially begins. It hasn’t actually started yet.” She looked around the room at the students, who all seemed to be a lot more interested in talking to one another than listening to announcements or even working on homework from other classes. “I’d like to remind the class that several of you still owe hours for your community service projects. Remember, you have to have half of them finished before the break.” She looked meaningfully at Chloe, then over at Oliver, who was slumped down in a seat in the back. “Some of you haven’t turned in any documentation of any hours at all so far.”</p><p>Chloe sighed at the look she got and shook her head. She didn’t mind helping the community at all, but she had the Torch, which took up most of her free time and the extra articles she wrote for the Ledger on top of everything else normal people had to do for school. And she’d been spending a lot of time trying to find information on what Lionel had been up to since her talk with Lana a couple weeks ago.</p><p>Now they had less than a week left until Christmas break and she had to somehow fit in fifteen hours of volunteer work. Not enough coffee in the world.</p><p>“Can I just donate a couple hundred bucks somewhere instead?” Oliver asked, tone completely bored.</p><p>“No, Mr. Queen, you may not.” The teacher said, arching her eyebrows at him, “I have a list of local places you can still sign up for here, both in Smallville and surrounding areas. I’ll pass this out again.”</p><p>Chloe glanced over at Oliver and shook her head a little. He could at least try to be likeable. It would make the task of attempting to approach him so much easier on her.</p><p>Oliver didn’t say anything else or even look up at the teacher, just slumped down in his chair a little more, and laid his head back against the wall behind him, letting his eyes drift shut.</p><p>She kept her eyes on him even as she took a copy of the paper. If there was one thing she couldn’t imagine was him doing volunteer work somewhere.</p><p>* * *</p><p>“Hey, Ollie!” one of the regulars at the community center called out in greeting.</p><p>He smiled faintly and lifted his hand in a wave. “Hey,” he called back, heading toward the kitchen area, grabbing one of the aprons on the way to keep his shirt from getting covered in food. “You still owe me a game of one-on-one!”</p><p>“And I’m still gonna kick your butt when we play!” the guy called back, chuckling.</p><p>* * *</p><p>Chloe nodded a little as an older volunteer gave her a clipboard and a pen, “okay so just make sure I write down every box that comes out when the kitchen needs it, got it.” She nodded, smiling.</p><p>The older man smiled back at her and patted her on the shoulder before heading away. “How are our cooks doing?” he called.</p><p>“We were short one til a few minutes ago, but our favorite younger cook showed up to save the day,” a lady called back cheerfully.</p><p>Chloe watched them go then looked back at the area she was supposed to be keeping an inventory over. Doing kitchen-related work was not her top choice but apparently this place needed all the help it could get since from what they had told her, they had to serve twice as many meals around the holidays.</p><p>“Hi.” A little boy looked up at her with big blue eyes and a shy smile.</p><p>She blinked, surprised when she saw him standing there, “hi,” she greeted, smiling a little, “should you be back here?”</p><p>“I’m hungry,” he told her, wrapping his arms around her legs.</p><p>“Right,” she said awkwardly, then looked around, “and we are in the kitchen so I guess you’re in the right place.” She muttered, frowning, not entirely sure what to give the kid. Somehow she didn’t think he’d appreciate a carrot. “Why don’t we go see if we can find you a snack until the food is ready?”</p><p>“Cookie?” he asked, looking up hopefully and holding his arms up for her to pick him up.</p><p>Chloe stared at him for a moment, looking around once more in hopes of finding a parent or someone who would be much better suited for this than she was, but no such luck. She set her clipboard and pen over one of the boxes then awkwardly picked him up, “hm, any idea where the cookies are?” She asked, shifting the little boy in her arms, he was way heavier than he looked.</p><p>He nodded, smiling brightly, one bottom tooth missing when he grinned. “Lee always has them!” He wrapped his arms around her neck.</p><p>“Lee, that’s a start,” she said, starting around the kitchen and looking at the name tags of the people as she passed them, “can you help me find Lee?”</p><p>He nodded again, pointing to the guy standing at the stove. “Lee!”</p><p>Oliver looked over, grinning at the sound of the familiar voice, but his smile faded instantly as he saw who was carrying him. Shit.</p><p>Chloe stilled, her eyes widening when she saw Oliver Queen, of all people, standing there with an apron on. She nearly dropped the kid when he started to wiggle to get down and it took her a second to set him on the floor. As soon as she did, though, the little boy went straight to Oliver and wrapped his arms around his legs.</p><p>Pursing his lips for a moment, Oliver looked down at the little boy, kneeling down. “Hey, Charlie.” He ruffled the kid’s hair gently. “You’re not supposed to be back here, remember? We don’t want you to get burned.” He picked him up, smiling involuntarily when the boy giggled.</p><p>She stepped forward a moment later, hesitating before speaking, “he said you usually give him cookies.” Chloe told him, “he was looking for one.”</p><p>“That’s because Charlie’s a little cookie monster, aren’t you?” He tickled the boy’s ribs and moved over to one of the canisters that had Oreos. He pulled one out and gave it to the boy, who stuffed the whole thing into his mouth without hesitation. “Come on, we should find your mom, okay?” When Charlie nodded, Oliver glanced momentarily at Chloe, then drew in a breath and made his way out into the main room, glancing around til he spotted the dark-haired woman hunched over one of the tables, reading the day’s newspaper.</p><p>Chloe blew out a breath, pulling herself together after what had just happened, but didn’t wait too long before following Oliver out in the main room. Charlie obviously knew him, and he was one of the cooks, Chloe knew for a fact that those weren’t one of those temporary positions just for the holidays. All the volunteers who were actually making the food had been there for a while, since they had all the nutritional values and portion sizes and stuff to worry about.</p><p>But it made no sense, why would he be offering money to cover up his volunteer hours at school if he had been doing this for a while? He only needed fifteen now, thirty total, if he had been going for at least a month, he’d have those hours more than covered already.</p><p>She watched as he spoke with the woman, Chloe guessed she was Charlie’s mom, and she couldn’t help but notice how much the little boy seemed to like Oliver. If she were to guess, it wasn’t just because he gave him cookies.</p><p>Oliver smiled softly at Charlie and his mother, moving away from them a few moments later, more than a little aware of the fact that Chloe was still staring at him, like he had just announced he was from another planet. He pursed his lips once more, walking over to where she stood and arching his eyebrows. “So what job did they give you?” It was probably the most pleasant thing he’d said to her in months.</p><p>“Inventory,” she said, watching him closely, “how long have you been working here?”</p><p>He wanted to tell her that that was how he’d started out, at first, too, but he didn’t. “Since the beginning of the semester,” he answered, heading toward the kitchen once more.</p><p>Chloe blinked, surprised and shook her head as she followed him, “so why haven’t you used those hours for school?”</p><p>He paused for a moment, glancing at her over his shoulder. “Because it’s not about school.”</p><p>“Yeah, because if you’ve been doing this since the beginning of the semester, you’re well over your thirty hours.” She said, still following him, “why are you doing this, then?”</p><p>“Because I want to,” he said with a shrug, moving back to the stove and stirring the pot of spaghetti noodles. “I like it here.”</p><p>She chewed on the inside of her mouth and nodded a little, taking a deep breath. She had more questions but it didn’t feel right to ask, especially when she felt like she was invading something incredibly private already, “I’ll try to stay out of your way while I’m here.” She told him, before walking back to where she had left her clipboard.</p><p>Oliver watched her go, holding his breath for a moment, then letting it out slowly. He turned the heat on the boiling pot down just a little and then reached into the canister, grabbing another cookie and slowly moving over to where she was. He held it out to her wordlessly, raising his eyebrows a little.</p><p>Pausing, she frowned a little at him, watching him for a moment then reaching for a cookie, “thanks,” she said, unsure.</p><p>“Welcome,” he answered, hesitating for a few seconds. “Look, you’ve got what, fifteen hours to put in here this week, right?”</p><p>“Yeah,” she nodded, arching her eyebrows a little.</p><p>“Is there any reason we have to be at one another’s throats?” he asked, voice dropping a little. “Or can we just call a truce while we’re here?”</p><p>Chloe considered him for a moment, then nodded, “I’m okay with that,” she told him, more than a little surprised by his offer.</p><p>He watched her for a second, then nodded, too. “Good. Cause these people have been through a lot already,” he said softly. There was no reason they needed to deal with high school drama on top of it.</p><p>“Yeah, I agree,” she said, eyes still on him. He had been through more than enough himself.</p><p>Oliver drew in a breath, nodding once more. “All right. I should...get back to the spaghetti.” He hitched his thumb over his shoulder, offering her a tiny smile.</p><p>“Yeah,” she smiled a little too and nodded, “I’ll see you around.”</p><p>“All right.” He smiled a bit more and headed back toward the stove, relaxing just a little.</p><p>Chloe kept her eyes on him and took a deep breath before heading to the stock room. Maybe this was the opening she needed to try and figure him out.</p><p>* * *</p><p>Oliver finished cleaning up his mess in the kitchen and saying his goodbyes to his fellow volunteers, pausing in the main room and glancing around. He didn’t see Chloe, so he guessed she must have taken off already. He drew in a breath, wrapping his scarf around his neck and pulling on his gloves as he headed out to the parking lot and toward his car, grimacing a little as he glanced up. Snow was beginning to fall lightly--the third snowfall that day. It wasn’t that he didn’t like snow, per say, it’s just that he was from California and snow didn’t do much for him unless he was trying to ski or sled or something.</p><p>“Oliver?” She called, coming out a second after him, she’d been waiting for him to leave for almost half an hour now, because she wanted to talk to him alone, but between completely cleaning up his station and saying goodbye to all his friends, it had taken him a while.</p><p>He paused for a second, then turned at the sound of her voice, watching her silently as she approached him. “Yeah?”</p><p>Chloe shivered, closing her jacket, “hey,” she said, walking over to where he was, “I have a question.”</p><p>He pursed his lips and arched his eyebrows, faint amusement in his eyes. “You usually do.”</p><p>“Fair,” she smiled a little, willing herself to relax. She’d spent the rest of their shift trying to think of ways to talk to him as much as possible during her week there, and this had been her best solution, “I don’t want to push our truce too far but... I was thinking that carpooling might not be a bad idea. It’d be cheaper and with the way the weather is this time of the year, it’d be a lot safer too.”</p><p>Oliver paused, hesitating a moment. “You sure that’s a good idea?”</p><p>“Like I said, I don’t wanna push it,” she told him, holding her hands up, “but it is a long drive, especially after a long shift like this.”</p><p>“It means you might be seen with me,” he told her, watching her closely.</p><p>“I don’t think anyone here knows who you really are, do they, Ollie?” She asked, arching her eyebrows.</p><p>He winced a little and looked away. “I meant as we’re leaving Smallville,” he responded.</p><p>Chloe considered him for a moment then shrugged a little, “I don’t really care,” she said sincerely, “but I can meet you up at the mansion if you want, since it’s half way out of the city already.”</p><p>“No. That’s a bad idea,” he answered without hesitation. “If you really want to carpool, let’s just meet up outside the Talon and go from there.”</p><p>She watched him for a moment then nodded a little, “okay, but you can think it over and let me know tomorrow.”</p><p>“Sure. I’ll stick a note in your locker,” he said lightly.</p><p>“Or you can text me,” she said, frowning a little, now wondering if he had deleted her number completely.</p><p>“Or that,” he agreed, nodding and studying her for a moment, wondering what the frown was about.</p><p>“Okay,” she nodded a little, reaching for her keys in her purse, “I’ll see you tomorrow.”</p><p>“Okay.” He drew in a breath and let it out slowly, pulling his keys from the pocket of his leather jacket.</p><p>She watched him for a moment longer then nodded a little, “goodnight,” she told him before heading to her car.</p><p>Oliver watched her go, making sure she was safely in her car before he moved to get into his own, starting the engine and glancing over at her once more as he backed the vehicle up from the parking spot and headed for the road. This was turning out to be a very strange night.</p><p>* * *</p><p>By lunch time the following day, Chloe still hadn’t heard from Oliver. She had no idea what she was going to do to get him to talk to her if this didn’t work out, but she wasn’t going to consider her plan a failure just yet.</p><p>As she headed toward her usual table with Clark, Lana and Lex, she glanced over to the popular kids area, not surprised to see Oliver was there. She looked at him probably for a second longer than she should have before sitting down.</p><p>“Hey, Chloe. What’s up?” Clark smiled at her as she sat down beside Lana.</p><p>“Hey,” she greeted, turning her attention toward him, “just the same, you?”</p><p>He nodded slightly. “Likewise.” He glanced at Lana and smiled again, ducking his head a little.</p><p>Just then, Chloe’s phone buzzed in her purse.</p><p>She frowned a little and looked down, not paying attention to Clark as she pulled her phone out of her purse. A text from Oliver. She opened it quickly, holding her breath then letting it out in relief when she read his text, <i>Meet me at the Talon -- 3:45?</i></p><p>Quickly, she replied to him then dropped her phone back in her purse, not even noticing that she was smiling.</p><p>Oliver glanced down at his phone when it buzzed quietly, biting back a smile at her response. <i>That works. See you there.</i> Smirking a little, he sent her back another quick text. <i>Which one of us will be wearing bells...?</i></p><p>Chloe smirked a little when she saw the follow up text, replying a moment later with <i>it’s Smallville, I think we can both find cows to borrow them from, don’t you?</i></p><p>He chuckled softly, not looking at any of the people he was sitting with and instead focusing on responding to her text. <i>Both accurate and scary.</i></p><p>She was doing the same, apparently not only had her plan worked, but he already seemed more comfortable with her. <i>Most things about Smallville are.</i></p><p>Lana looked at her curiously. “Who are you talking to?” she asked with a small smile.</p><p>Chloe blinked, lifting her head when Lana spoke, “what?”</p><p>She arched an eyebrow, looking more than a little amused. “You were laughing at a text.”</p><p>Just then, her phone buzzed again. <i>Every small town needs good cowbells.</i></p><p>She wrapped her fingers around her phone, hiding the screen and shook her head, “oh, it’s nothing.”</p><p>“Everyone you text is here,” Lex said, arching his eyebrows.</p><p>Lana paused at that. “Well, Pete’s not,” she pointed out with a small smile.</p><p>“Exactly,” Chloe said, almost thanking Lana, “neither is my cousin,” she added before turning back to her phone. <i>If only we could use them to identify the undesirable people instead.</i></p><p>Oliver smirked at her response, arching his eyebrows a little and glancing over to where she was sitting. <i>That would take a lot of damn bells.</i></p><p><i>Probably too many, we’d have an incredible level of noise pollution, </i> She sent as a reply.</p><p>“Oliver?” Mindy whined, linking her arm with his, “what is so interesting about your phone?”</p><p>He tried to remember what her name was, but smiled a little at her, shrugging. “Sorry. I’m texting with an old friend.” He typed quickly. <i>Might break the sound barrier.</i></p><p><i>Maybe we should implement it and study ways to transform it into energy</i> Chloe responded, glancing in his direction.</p><p>“But I’m here now,” Mindy told him, shifting closer.</p><p><i>Not a bad idea.</i> He glanced at Mindy and offered her a faint smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “Hey, I gotta cut this short, okay? I’ve got some stuff I have to do. I’ll see you around.” He rose to his feet, heading for the door even as he sent Chloe another text. Escape time.</p><p>Chloe smirked a little when she saw him heading out the door, then shifted, looking back down at her phone. <i> Afraid of STDs?</i></p><p>He snorted at her response. <i>Extremely.</i></p><p><i>Do you have a hiding place?</i> She asked, then finally reached for her juice, she hadn’t touched her food yet.</p><p>
  <i>Yeah, I do actually. The bio lab.</i>
</p><p>Chloe frowned a little when she saw the next text, not even pretending to be paying attention to whatever Clark, Lex and Lana were saying. <i>Really? What do you do in there?</i></p><p>
  <i>Eat lunch, usually. Or do homework.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>You have to hide from your fans to eat?</i>
</p><p><i>Or I lose a pound a week. The shock and horror, I tell you.</i> He smiled a little as he sat down at the lab table he and Chloe always occupied. He took a bite of the sandwich he’d made at the mansion that morning, waiting for her response.</p><p>Shaking her head a little, Chloe frowned slightly, she always figured he liked the attention. But then again, most things about him didn’t seem to be what she expected. <i>You know that can be considered harassment, right?</i></p><p>He chuckled, taking another bite of his food and then responding quickly. <i>Yeah, but I don’t want to get my fans in trouble.</i></p><p><i>So you do like the attention.</i> She texted him, then set her phone down just long enough to open her bag of chips.</p><p><i>Who doesn’t like some attention once in awhile?</i> he responded, arching his eyebrows a little and taking a drink of his water.</p><p>She frowned a little at the text and set her phone down for a few minutes, exchanging a couple of words with the people at the table and taking a few bites of food. Of course he did, he was a guy and at least he was getting some attention, considering the lack of people he had in his life, but she couldn’t help but feel weird that he liked the attention from those people. Then again, any normal guy would enjoy the attention from the barbies who were a few of the easiest girls in school.</p><p>With a deep breath, she read his text again. She wasn’t entirely sure how to reply so she went with a response as neutral as possible. <i>I guess so.</i></p><p>It took him a long moment to respond, because he wasn’t really sure how to. Her response had been lukewarm at best, and he sighed softly, rubbing a hand over his face. Attempting to make friends really shouldn’t be so complicated, he thought tiredly. He chewed the inside of his cheek for a moment. <i>See you in bio?</i></p><p>By the time she got his reply, she was done with her lunch, not that she had eaten all that much anyway, and lunch break was almost over. <i> Yeah, see you in a few hours.</i></p><p>Chloe had no idea what the texting thing meant, they had barely talked the night before and even though she knew her goal was to get him to talk to her and to get a better idea of who he was and what he was doing, she had the feeling it was going to be a lot harder than she initially thought. Because Oliver was the hardest person to understand, and she was usually very good at reading people.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>During Biology, they had agreed that she was meeting him at the Talon and they were going in his car today, and then the following day she could drive. Chloe parked in the back alley and made her way to the front, just in time to see him pulling up to the front of the building.</p><p>She made her way to his car and opened the door, “should we go, or do you want to get something inside before we leave?” She asked, but didn’t get inside.</p><p>“I’m ready, unless you wanted to grab a coffee or something,” he said, glancing toward the Talon and then back at her.</p><p>She got in the car and shook her head, “had one, I should last for a while longer.”</p><p>“You can always have another when we get there.” He waited until she’d put on her seat belt before shifting the car into drive once more, nervously glancing in the rearview and side mirrors as he pulled his car onto the road, hoping for her sake that no one saw them together.</p><p>She watched him, not missing the way he was looking around, “Afraid of bad publicity?” She asked, frowning a little.</p><p>“Something like that,” he murmured, not looking at her. He stepped on the gas pedal a little. “You can turn the radio on if you want. There are some CDs in the back.”</p><p>Her face fell a little at that, but she focused on the radio, turning it on to the one non-country station in the area. So he was embarrassed of being seen with her, and he probably didn’t want anyone thinking that they were dating. Again.</p><p>“How was the rest of your day?”</p><p>“Not bad,” she said with a shrug, “yours?”</p><p>“Same as always,” he answered, chewing the inside of his cheek.</p><p>Chloe nodded a little, shifting on her seat. It had been a lot easier to text with him than it was to talk to him, “how many hours do you normally work there a week?”</p><p>“Depends on the week. I try to go at least three times, though.”</p><p>“That’s nice,” she said sincerely, “they seem to like you there.”</p><p>He glanced at her sideways and drew in a breath, facing forward once more and focusing on the road ahead of them. “Yeah. It’s...different.”</p><p>She glanced over at him, “how did you find the place?”</p><p>“I was just out driving one day,” he admitted, shrugging a little. “They had a sign out front looking for volunteers to help cook and serve meals.”</p><p>“Have you ever volunteered before?” She asked curiously.</p><p>He shook his head a little. “No, not unless you count donating money,” he admitted.</p><p>“I haven’t either, really,” she admitted too, then shrugged, “but it doesn’t seem bad.”</p><p>He smiled faintly at that. “No, I kinda like it.”</p><p>“I guess I just expected it to be... harder, you know?” She said, shrugging a little.</p><p>“Well, you could try cooking,” he said, voice light.</p><p>“Do you want them all to get food poisoning?” She asked, shaking her head, “besides, I meant it in a more.... emotional way.”</p><p>His smile faded a bit. “Well, this is only your second time,” he said softly.</p><p>“Oh,” she frowned a little, “guess I should keep myself prepared, then?”</p><p>“It’s not always as easy as yesterday,” he agreed.</p><p>“What kind of things happen?” She asked, frowning a little.</p><p>“Sometimes you get too involved.” He pursed his lips.</p><p>“Like with the little boy?” She asked, “Charlie?”</p><p>“Yeah, like with Charlie.” His voice grew a little softer than it had been.</p><p>“What happened to him? I mean... his mom seemed kind of disconnected, I guess.”</p><p>“His father took off a few months ago. Took everything they had, basically.” He chewed the inside of his cheek. “And she’s sick.”</p><p>Chloe’s face fell at that. At least her mother had had the decency of taking off with pretty much nothing, even most of her clothes had remained there as far as she knew. “Sick?” She asked, glancing at Oliver again.</p><p>“Dying,” he said, voice growing even quieter. “She has lymphoma.”</p><p>“Oh,” her eyes widened at that, “what about him? Don’t they have any other family?”</p><p>“No.” He grimaced. “No other family. So when she dies, he’ll be in state custody.”</p><p>Her face fell at that and she shook her head, “poor kid,” she said quietly. “Maybe he’ll get lucky like Clark.”</p><p>“Clark’s parents aren’t his real parents?” he asked, eyebrows furrowing a little.</p><p>“You didn’t know?” She asked, pausing and wincing, “they aren’t.”</p><p>“No, I...had no idea. Clark and I didn’t talk a lot before...” He paused, then shook his head. “It never came up.”</p><p>“Yeah, he doesn’t really talk about it much,” she said, shaking her head, “don’t mention I said anything?”</p><p>“Of course not,” he assured her. “Besides, we’re not really friends anyway, so it shouldn’t be an issue.”</p><p>Chloe looked down guiltily at that and nodded, pursing her lips together.</p><p>He glanced at her sideways, frowning at the expression on her face. “What’s wrong?”</p><p>Chloe shrugged a little, “you were kinda friends with Clark, before, you know, Metropolis happened.”</p><p>“Only kinda,” he answered, focusing on the road once more. “It’s not the end of the world.”</p><p>“Right,” she nodded, shifting a little.</p><p>“How are things going at the Torch?” he asked after a moment of silence.</p><p>“Good,” she nodded, leaning back against her seat, “it’s good to have it back.”</p><p>He couldn’t help but smile a little at that, relaxing in his seat. “Good.”</p><p>“I really missed it,” she admitted quietly, “it kinda felt like I had lost my identity without it.”</p><p>Oliver glanced at her sideways, holding his breath for a moment. “Yeah,” he murmured.</p><p>“Did you know that the Luthors were rebuilding it for me?” She asked.</p><p>His jaw tightened just a little, but he shrugged. “They don’t really keep me in the loop.”</p><p>“Yeah, it was a little weird,” she commented, keeping her eyes on him, “usually Lex will brag about doing something like that.”</p><p>“And this time he didn’t?”</p><p>“Not until I came ask him about it,” she said, “I mean, very few people in Smallville could have pulled something like that off.”</p><p>“I’m sure he had his reasons for being quiet about it.” Like because he was lying.</p><p>“I’m sure he did,” she agreed, “unless of course he didn’t know about it.”</p><p>Oliver blinked at that, but didn’t dare look at her. “So you think Lionel did it?”</p><p>“Why would he?” She said, considering this for the first time. She’d been so happy to get the Torch back, she hadn’t really questioned much but now, she realized how little sense it made, “I mean, if he really wanted to help, he’d have helped my dad, not me. He has the power to do that.”</p><p>“Maybe he felt bad for demoting your dad,” he said, still focusing on the road ahead.</p><p>Chloe kept her eyes on him, turning on her seat a little, “or maybe you felt bad for what happened with my dad and since you have no control over that, you figured you’d help where you could.”</p><p>He opened his mouth to respond, then rolled his eyes, shaking his head a little as he glanced over at her. “You don’t really think that.”</p><p>“Don’t I?” She asked, shaking her head, “you keep surprising me.”</p><p>He shifted in his seat uncomfortably, chewing the inside of his cheek for a long moment. “Well, I owed you. And I don’t like being in debt to other people.”</p><p>“So it was you?” Chloe gasped, eyes widening a little. She’d been trying to trick him into admitting to it, she had no idea it was really him.</p><p>Oliver groaned quietly, rubbing a hand over his face. “It’s not a big deal.”</p><p>“But it is a big deal, Oliver,” she shook her head, “the Torch will make a huge difference in my college applications, it will probably be one of the deciding factor in whatever scholarship I’ll hopefully get. If I didn’t have it this semester, I wouldn’t have any extra credits impressive enough to keep me in the run.”</p><p>He blew out a breath. “I meant to me,” he said, shaking his head again.</p><p>“Well, it made a difference to me.” She said quietly, “I wish you had told me it was you.”</p><p>“Why?” He frowned.</p><p>“So I could thank you?” She said, “so I wouldn’t let Lex take credit for it?”</p><p>He pursed his lips. “Lex’s ego apparently needed the gratitude.” He shrugged.</p><p>“I don’t understand it,” she shook her head, turning to look at him again.</p><p>“I told you. I owed you, so I did what I could to pay off the debt.”</p><p>“That’s not it.” She shifted on her seat again, “you always seem to be going out of your way to cover up all of the good things you do. And do your best to prove you’re the complete opposite of what you seem to be. Why?”</p><p>“Because it’s easier,” he answered, shrugging and not looking at her.</p><p>“How is it easier?” She asked, confused.</p><p>He blew out a breath, starting to feel a little frustrated. “Because most of the time I’m a fuck-up,” he told her, hands tightening on the steering wheel. “And yeah, I do what I can to try and make up for it, but you can’t make up for every single screw-up, and if people know you’re trying, they expect it. And maybe I don’t like trying to live up to other people’s expectations.”</p><p>Her face fell a little at that and she nodded, sighing, “I guess that makes sense,” she told him, “but I don’t think you’re a fuck up, Oliver.” She said sincerely, “I think you don’t always go about things the right way, but you’re way too hard on yourself.”</p><p>“I doubt your dad shares that sentiment,” he said, not looking at her. “But it doesn’t matter. I’ll be eighteen in less than a year.”</p><p>“My dad doesn’t think it will last,” she told him, looking down guiltily, “the guy who is replacing him keeps messing up, it’s costing Lionel a lot of money.”</p><p>“Well, at least something good came out of it then.”</p><p>“I just think you shouldn’t be so hard on yourself all the time,” she told him, looking back out the window.</p><p>“Well. Thanks for the sentiment,” he said quietly.</p><p>“Welcome,” She answered even though she was pretty sure he didn’t mean what he said.</p><p>He pulled the car into the parking lot of the soup kitchen and shifted the car into park and glanced over at her. “Ready?”</p><p>“Yeah,” she said, taking a deep breath and reaching for her things, before glancing at him. She kept trying to figure him out to understand him, but the more she spoke with him, the more confusing he became.</p><p>* * *</p><p>Oliver hadn’t seen Chloe in almost an hour after dinner had been served, and he’d just finished cleaning up the stove and doing the rest of the dishes, glancing at the clock and noticing it was getting late. He asked around and learned she’d been assigned to work in the stock room that evening, and he drew in a breath, heading inside and glancing up at her. She was standing on a ladder several feet above his head. “Hey.”</p><p>Chloe paused when she heard someone, then awkwardly turned her head, looking down to see who was talking to her, but only for a second. At the awkward position, her shoe slipped down the side of the ladder, a second later, she felt herself losing balance and her heart was racing, her eyes widening as the ladder tilted backwards even as Chloe let go of it completely a second later.</p><p>His own eyes widened in horror and he moved quickly, reaching out and catching her as she tumbled off the ladder, which tumbled over backwards and hit the ground with a loud clatter. He held onto her tightly for a moment, blinking as he slowly set her on her feet. “Holy crap. Are you all right?”</p><p>She had been expecting to hit the floor, so it took her a moment to realize he had actually caught her and was holding her up. With a deep breath, she stared at him and nodded slightly. “How did you do that?”</p><p>“I work out.” He shook his head a little, mouth quirking upwards in a small smile.</p><p>Normally, she’d have rolled her eyes, but as she glanced over at the ladder, she knew she’d have broken a couple of bones at the very least. “Thanks.”</p><p>“Sure thing. You sure you’re all right?” He moved over to pick up the ladder once more.</p><p>“Yeah,” she nodded, looking over at the ladder too, “I guess I just lost balance.”</p><p>“I must have startled you.” He drew in a breath and let it out slowly, setting the ladder up against the wall.</p><p>“It was a little wobbly all night,” she admitted, “I was almost done, though.”</p><p>Oliver chewed the inside of his cheek. “We should probably be getting back. It’s late.”</p><p>“It’s time already?” She frowned, surprised.</p><p>He smiled a bit, nodding. “Yeah.”</p><p>“I guess I was entertained with the counting and organizing,” she said, shrugging a little.</p><p>He laughed softly. “Well, I think it’s your inner nerd,” he teased.</p><p>“If only it would come out during math,” she said, shaking her head a little.</p><p>He grinned. “Considering you have a 4.0 GPA, I don’t think you have to worry too much.”</p><p>“Doesn’t mean I enjoy it...” she paused and frowned, “how do you know my GPA?”</p><p>His grin brightened a little more at that and he raised his eyebrows. “Secret.”</p><p>Her eyes narrowed a little, “are you a hacker too? Because I could use someone with hacking skills at the Torch.”</p><p>“Not so much, sorry.” He shook his head, still smiling.</p><p>“Then why do you look so smug about it?” Chloe asked, watching him closely.</p><p>“Because I know people who can hack?”</p><p>Her eyes widened at that, “and you haven’t introduced me yet?”</p><p>Oliver raised his eyebrows a little. “We don’t exactly talk at school?”</p><p>“I guess... who is it?” She asked curiously.</p><p>“Ahh...I can’t tell you that,” he said, raising his eyebrows a little more. “At least not without asking permission to reveal his or her identity first. Sorry.”</p><p>Her eyes narrowed at that, “I will have to get it out of you then.”</p><p>He chuckled. “Well, you can try. But I’m pretty good at keeping secrets.”</p><p>“Well I happen to know who your friends are,” she said, arching her eyebrows.</p><p>He gave her an amused look. “Guys like me don’t have friends, Chloe,” he told her, heading out of the stock room.</p><p>“Only if you don’t want to have them,” she called after him, following him out of the stock room.</p><p>“I don’t,” he answered.</p><p>Her face fell at that, she only paused long enough to grab her purse and jacket, “what do you mean?”</p><p>“Just what I said,” he told her as they walked out toward his car.</p><p>She got in the passenger’s seat a moment later, it had gotten a lot colder, but it wasn’t snowing. Yet. “What do you mean you don’t want to have friends?”</p><p>He sighed a little, glancing at her sideways as he started his car, waiting for it to heat up a little bit before starting the drive to Smallville. “I mean, I don’t want friends. It’s too hard to know who’s sincere and who just wants to use you for something. Besides. When I try, I tend to get my friends into trouble, so I’d rather just be alone.”</p><p>“Are you saying this because of what happened in Metropolis?” She asked even if she knew that was a yes.</p><p>“I’m saying it because it’s the truth,” he told her, turning the heat on and wincing when a rush of cold air blasted them.</p><p>She winced too, rubbing her hands together as she shifted away from the vent, “that was a bad situation and you know it, Oliver. For all I know, Lionel had someone following you and tipped those reporters on purpose.”</p><p>“It doesn’t really matter,” he said quietly, pulling his gloves out and handing them to her.</p><p>“I’m okay,” she said shaking her head at the gloves, “how does it not matter? You want to isolate yourself?”</p><p>“I have ten months left here, tops,” he told her, raising his eyebrows and sticking the gloves back in his pockets.</p><p>“So? What are you going to do after that? Continue to ignore people?”</p><p>“No. I’m gonna get out of Kansas,” he said, shrugging. “Take over my parents’ company. Maybe travel, I don’t know.”</p><p>“So you’re leaving anyway, right?” She pointed out, “then why does it matter for you to make friends for now? Temporarily.”</p><p>“Like I said. I don’t want to get anyone into trouble,” he responded, backing the car up out of its parking space.</p><p>“And of course you didn’t feel this way before what happened.” She said, sighing.</p><p>“What happened just woke me up to reality.” He pursed his lips, flipping on the headlights and driving onto the street.</p><p>“You realize that’s incredibly stupid, right?”</p><p>“You didn’t think so two months ago,” Oliver said sharply. “And I doubt your father did, either.”</p><p>“Because I was angry,” she told him, arching her eyebrows, “and because I thought Lex might have been right about you.”</p><p>He shrugged at that. “Lex and everyone else can think what they want. I don’t care.”</p><p>“Well, if you haven’t noticed, I like figuring things out for myself.” She told him.</p><p>“I’ve noticed.”</p><p>“And I think you’re lying.” She said bluntly.</p><p>“Lying about what, exactly?” He arched an eyebrow.</p><p>“Wanting to be on your own. I think you’re afraid people will want to use you and that makes sense, but I don’t think you want to push people away. You’re just doing it because it’s easier.”</p><p>Oliver rolled his eyes, shaking his head a little. “It’s smarter.”</p><p>“It’s safer,” she told him, “but if you can’t trust people now, when you get an allowance of $250 a week, do you really think you will be able to trust anyone after you get your fortune?”</p><p>“I won’t need to,” he said bluntly.</p><p>“Why?” She asked, “because your money will keep you company?”</p><p>“Basically. Yes.” He smirked a little, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “And I’ll be too busy running a company to worry about anything else anyway.”</p><p>“And you don’t think you’ll get lonely? C’mon Oliver, even you can’t be that stubborn.” She shook her head, “you may enjoy helping at the kitchen and helping those people, but you must know they are helping you just as much by keeping you company while you’re there. By helping you feel like you have somewhere where you belong.”</p><p>Oliver was silent for a moment. “Has anyone ever told you that you talk a lot?”</p><p>“Several times,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest, “I figure if I keep talking eventually the other person will actually listen.”</p><p>He sighed at that, tightening his hands around the steering wheel. Somehow he wasn’t surprised he wasn’t the first to tell her that. “Maybe someday I’ll figure it out. Just not now.”</p><p>“Maybe you should make an effort before it’s too late.” She said, glancing over at him.</p><p>Been there, done that, he thought, exhaling slowly and falling silent. Maybe the whole truce with her that he’d proposed a few days ago had been a bad idea from the start.</p><p>* * *</p><p>The following day, Chloe hadn’t heard from Oliver at all, or seen him at school. The rest of the drive back had been mostly silent, but she didn’t think he would just not go to work, not because she had annoyed him too much.</p><p>She parked in front of the Talon, since it was her turn to drive, and waited. It was ten minutes after the time they were supposed to leave already and she couldn’t be late today since the following morning was the last day she had to hand in her timesheet, and today was her last day until at least after Christmas.</p><p>Shifting on her seat, she looked up and down main street for signs of him impatiently, she couldn’t help but wonder if she had pushed him too far the previous night, even if she was just trying to help.</p><p>A moment later, her phone buzzed with a text message. <i>Hey, I’m not gonna make it today. I’m not feeling well. Sorry. Hope your last day goes well. See you. -- O</i></p><p>Chloe reached for her phone quickly and as soon as she read his text, her face fell. Of course he wasn’t going. She didn’t waste anymore time, just pulled from the parking spot and started toward the highway without bothering with a reply.</p><p>It was her last day. After this, he wouldn’t have to worry about putting up with her again. At least now she knew she had definitely pushed him too hard. She brushed her gloved hand over her eyes that insisted on tearing up slightly and tried to ignore the rejection she was suddenly feeling, but it was bad enough knowing he was locking himself away from everyone because of her, it was even worse knowing she had no clue how to fix it. And that when she tried, she just pushed him further away.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Oliver glared at the oversized Christmas tree that was right in the middle of the Luthor mansion’s foyer. It was easily twenty-five foot high, and decorated from top to bottom in golden ornaments and tinsel. At the top there was a shiny gold star. He made a face at it, rubbing a hand over his cheek as he headed back toward his room. Every single room in the entire place had decorations everywhere. The staff had even insisted on decorating his room, which he knew was actually Lionel’s fault.</p><p>Stupid old bastard.</p><p>At least it was the first and only Christmas he’d be spending at this hell hole, he thought glumly. And at least the Luthors were actually somewhere in Metropolis and not there, which was definitely one for the plus column. The staff, minus an older woman who had no family, had all been dismissed to spend the holiday with their families. Which worked out fine for him, because he had no intention of celebrating anyway.</p><p>Raking a hand through his hair, he tossed a sweater at the small tree on top of his desk, smirking as it fell over and a couple of the bulbs broke.</p><p>Good riddance.</p><p>He flopped down on his bed and shut his eyes, exhaling slowly. Maybe he could just sleep the rest of the day.</p><p>* * *</p><p>She had been trying to sneak out of the Kent’s Christmas party for about two hours before she actually succeeded. With Mrs. Kent’s help. Of course the woman had only helped her after Chloe told her what she was really up to.</p><p>Which had worked out better anyway, because Chloe had ended up with enough food to feed a small army and she figured that might help her case some.</p><p>Even though she hadn’t seen Oliver since their drive back from the kitchen over a week ago, she had been planning on doing this since her talk with Lana at the Torch. Because she really did believe Oliver wasn’t beyond saving and she knew he had to feel lonely, especially on days like today.</p><p>And to help her case even more, Lex had announced he would be spending most of the winter break in Metropolis with his dad, to start learning more about the company, so she knew Oliver would be completely on his own.</p><p>She rang the bell for the mansion just a little after five, and waited.</p><p>Oliver groaned at the sound of the doorbell. And there was the one disadvantage to being alone on Christmas. No one else was around to answer the door. Heaving a sigh, he sat up once more, and made his way down the hallway again, trying to figure out how he’d react if it was a bunch of Christmas carolers there to sing to him. He grimaced at the thought, unlocking the door and pulling it open, blinking a few times when he saw Chloe standing there, bags dangling from her arms and hands.</p><p>By the time it took him to open the door, she wasn’t sure he was going to open it at all. And with the amount of snow that was pouring down now, she was pretty afraid she was going to freeze to death, “can I come in?” She asked, shivering a little.</p><p>He stared at her for a few seconds before wordlessly stepping aside, shaking his head a little in confusion.</p><p>Chloe stepped inside without hesitation, setting the bags carefully on the floor a moment later and rubbing her freezing hands together.</p><p>“What are you doing here?” he asked, bewildered.</p><p>“It’s Christmas,” she told him, shrugging a little, “no one should be alone.”</p><p>“What about your dad? And the Kents’?” He frowned. “Shouldn’t you be spending Christmas with them?”</p><p>“I was,” she told him, nodding down at the bags of food and smiling a little,“Mrs. Kent sent you a feast.”</p><p>“Why?” he asked quietly.</p><p>“Because it’s Christmas,” she repeated, brushing the snow from her coat, “are you hungry?”</p><p>He looked from her to the bags she’d set down, pursing his lips for a moment. “Yeah,” he admitted.</p><p>“Good,” she smiled at him, reaching for a couple of the bags, “we will need to heat it up, but everything she made was amazing.”</p><p>He couldn’t vouch for the taste yet, but it all definitely smelled amazing. He bent down and picked up the rest of the bags.</p><p>She had been at the mansion enough times to know where the kitchen was, so she started toward it, “and there is plenty of food, if there’s someone else in the castle,” she offered.</p><p>“Ms. Atteberry is here. But she ate already, and passed out in her room.” He glanced at her sideways.</p><p>“Well, she can have leftovers tomorrow if she wants to,” she told him, setting the bags over the long wooden table.</p><p>“I’m sure she will,” he said softly.</p><p>“There’s all sorts of things,” she told him, “turkey and gravy, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, there’s salad and rolls and three types of deserts.”</p><p>He blinked, raising his eyebrows a little. “That’s a lot of food.”</p><p>“Mrs. Kent usually makes a lot of it,” she nodded, glancing over at him, “oh she also made Mac and cheese, hers is my favorite.”</p><p>He couldn’t help but smile at her admission, shaking his head a little. “I don’t really know what to say.”</p><p>“Merry Christmas?” She tried, arching her eyebrows a little.</p><p>Oliver glanced up at her, holding his breath for a moment. “Yeah. Merry Christmas,” he whispered.</p><p>Chloe smiled at him and nodded a little, “make yourself a plate, I’d eat too, but I pretty much ate all day.”</p><p>He smiled a bit. “I think that’s the main purpose, isn’t it?”</p><p>“One of them,” she nodded a little, shrugging off her coat now that she was getting warmer.</p><p>“I don’t generally celebrate,” he admitted. “But I think you already figured that out.”</p><p>“Yeah,” she confirmed, “but even if you don’t care about the religious stuff, it’s still a crappy day to be on your own.”</p><p>Most were, he thought, glancing over at her. “You want something to drink? We’ve got water, tea, and I think there’s even some coffee.”</p><p>“I’ll take coffee if you have it, anything warm would be good though.” She said with a nod.</p><p>“All right. Be right back,” he assured her, heading into the kitchen area.</p><p>Chloe watched him go then started pulling the containers from the bags and setting them on the table, she didn’t plan on leaving anytime soon, but at least he seemed okay with her being there.</p><p>* * *</p><p>An hour later found them lounging in the den in front of the fireplace, each drinking a mug of hot chocolate he’d fixed them after he’d finished eating. He was stuffed, and she was right. Martha Kent was one hell of a good cook. He looked at her silently, observing her and the way the firelight flickered over her face. “Thank you.” His voice was quiet.</p><p>She glanced over at him when he spoke and she shook her head a little, “you don’t have to thank me.” She said just as quietly.</p><p>He raised an eyebrow. “No?”</p><p>“No,” she said quietly, “I wanted to do this and... I’m sorry I was kind of a bitch to you.”</p><p>Oliver paused, frowning a little as he turned to face her a little more. “I deserved it.”</p><p>“Not at first,” she said, “not really.”</p><p>“Oh, but later?” His voice grew lighter, teasing.</p><p>She smiled a little at that, “later, I think we both deserved it, really.”</p><p>“Fair enough,” he agreed with a small smile of his own, finishing off his hot chocolate. “You know...” He smirked a little. “I’m fairly certain there’s some eggnog in the fridge...”</p><p>Chloe arched her eyebrows at that and cocked her head, “real eggnog?”</p><p>“Yep, real eggnog.”</p><p>“Interesting,” she said, “don’t think I’ve ever had real eggnog.”</p><p>He grinned involuntarily at that. “Be right back.” He winked at her and headed out the door.</p><p>Chloe watched him go and smiled, stretching a little then standing up as she went to look out the window. It was completely dark already, which wasn’t surprising considering the time of the year, but she had no clue what time it was.</p><p>Oliver returned a moment later, carrying two more mugs and smirking. “You ready for this?”</p><p>“It’s eggnog,” she said, arching her eyebrows, “I think I can handle it,” she told him, turning to face him.</p><p>He grinned, handing her one of the mugs and taking a small sip of his own.</p><p>Chloe took the mug and sipped on it, arching her eyebrows then nodding, “it’s good.”</p><p>“But it’s not coffee.” He arched his eyebrows back at her.</p><p>“I do drink things other than coffee, you know,” she smirked at him, walking back to her seat.</p><p>He chuckled lightly. “Stop the presses,” he teased.</p><p>“Uh huh,” she told him, “occasionally I even have drinks without caffeine at all.”</p><p>He moved to sit back down, as well, leaning toward her a little. “You mean you drink plain stuff like water?”</p><p>“Ew, of course not. Like juice.” She smirked.</p><p>“Oh, of course. My mistake.” He smirked, too, taking another drink of his eggnog.</p><p>“So what kind of plans did I interrupt today?” She asked, turning slightly toward him.</p><p>“A day-long nap,” he admitted, pursing his lips.</p><p>She made a face at that, “sounds dull.”</p><p>“It is what it is,” he said quietly. It was how he usually spent the holidays.</p><p>She sipped on her eggnog then shrugged a little, “at least you got to eat really good food.”</p><p>“The company’s pretty good, too,” he murmured, gazing at her.</p><p>Her face softened and she smiled at him at that, nodding, “ditto.”</p><p>Oliver smiled faintly in return, holding her gaze for a long moment, falling silent.</p><p>She looked back at him for a moment then shrugged a little, “do you wanna do something?”</p><p>“Definitely,” he said, raising his eyebrows.</p><p>“Like what?” she asked, arching her eyebrows back at him.</p><p>“Like....” He leaned in a little more, a smirk tugging at his mouth. “A snowball fight?”</p><p>Chloe grinned, amused, “I’m up for that.”</p><p>“You might not be saying that for long,” he teased, rising to his feet.</p><p>She stood up too, smirking, “aren’t you from California?” She grinned, then took a long sip of her eggnog.</p><p>“...meaning?” He narrowed his eyes a little.</p><p>“Meaning, some of us grew up with snow.”</p><p>“Maybe you’ll have to share your winter survival tips with the rest of the class sometime.”</p><p>“Not when you’re the competition,” she told him, grinning.</p><p>“I meant after the snowball war,” he informed her with a smirk.</p><p>“Oh so it went from fight to war? Interesting....”</p><p>He grinned. “I’m an interesting guy,” he teased, heading out of the room and down the hall to get his coat and gloves.</p><p>Chloe followed, leaving her mug on the coffee table before leaving the room, stopping to wear her own coat and gloves, “you’re sure about this, right?”</p><p>“Oh, I’m sure,” he said with confidence in his voice.</p><p>“C’mon then,” she said, grinning a little and making her way to the door.</p><p>He grinned, following her without hesitation and pulling the door shut behind them.</p><p>As soon as she stepped outside, she stilled, looking down at the snow, “woah, I didn’t realize it was snowing this much.”</p><p>He glanced over to where her car was, frowning a little. He could barely see it from beneath the piles that had already gathered atop it.</p><p>She winced and looked over at him, “you guys have like, a hundred guest rooms, right?”</p><p>“Thirty-two,” he answered, glancing over at her. “But obviously there’s more than enough room for you to stay over.”</p><p>“Thanks,” she said, a little uncomfortable, but she probably wasn’t going to have a choice in the matter.</p><p>“I think there’s a snowmobile in the shed,” he said hesitantly.</p><p>“Oh,” she nodded, arching her eyebrows, “good to know.”</p><p>“Do you know how to drive one?”</p><p>“Never tried,” she admitted, “you?”</p><p>“I know how to drive a Four Wheeler. I mean, it’s basically the same except one runs on snow, right?” He didn’t sound so certain.</p><p>“Not... really.” She said, “it’s much more slippery.”</p><p>“Then you might be stuck.”</p><p>“I guess we’ll see how it looks later,” she said, even though she knew there was no way the streets would get plowed that night, “I was promised a snowball war for now.”</p><p>He smirked at that, leaning down and packing a snowball in his hands, arching his eyebrows as he advanced on her quickly.</p><p>Chloe grinned and ran toward her car, making her way around it and hiding behind it before packing a snowball of her own.</p><p>He sent it flying in her direction right as she ducked behind her car. It exploded on the hood, or what he thought was the hood, at least.</p><p>Some of it actually hit her but it wasn’t too bad, a moment later she sent a snowball flying in his direction, immediately followed by a second one.</p><p>The first one he managed to dodge, but the second exploded against his torso, and he blinked a couple of times in surprise. Then he narrowed his eyes a little, leaning down to scoop up more snow into his hands.</p><p>She grinned as she watched him, arming herself then taking off from behind her car and to the side of the castle.</p><p>He followed her without hesitation, pelting her with two snowballs of his own, then ducking behind a bush.</p><p>Chloe gasped as one hit her back, turning around and tossing one more at him before vanishing behind the side wall. She pressed herself against it, and waited, a snowball in each hand.</p><p>He re-armed himself, as well, holding silent in his crouched position.</p><p>When he didn’t come around, she inched forward, poking her head against the side of the building to see if she could see him.</p><p>At which point, he heaved a snowball right at her.</p><p>When it hit her right on the face, all she had time to do was close her eyes and gasp, “ugh!” She groaned, picking up another snowball and tossing it in his direction.</p><p>He laughed out loud, easily ducking the one she’d thrown at him blindly and moving toward her with another in his hand. “Like I said. War.”</p><p>Chloe reached for more snow quickly after brushing the ice from her face and hair, “you’ll get yours.” She told him, not moving when he came toward her.</p><p>“Looking forward to it,” he taunted, arching his eyebrows.</p><p>Without hesitation, she threw the ball right toward his face this time.</p><p>He winced a little as it smacked him right in the face. He wiped away the excess snow before pitching his last snowball at her.</p><p>Chloe laughed as she ducked and ran away from him once more, toward the back of the mansion.</p><p>Oliver chased her without hesitation, grabbing her around the waist when he caught up with her. “Gotcha,” he teased.</p><p>She gasped, completely unprepared as he grabbed her, her feet leaving the ground momentarily, “not fair!”</p><p>“Sorry. All is fair in love and war,” he informed her, not letting her go. His eyes twinkled with playful amusement.</p><p>“Oh yeah?” She turned slightly in his arms and pressed the snowball she had in her hand to the back of his head and neck.</p><p>“Guh.” He shuddered involuntarily. “Okay, that was just mean.”</p><p>She laughed and grinned at him, watching him closely, “it’s fair.”</p><p>He narrowed his eyes at her, then reached up and put his cold hand against her neck, arching his eyebrows.</p><p>She gasped and shivered, wrinkling her nose and trying to pull away from him, “no snow involved, not fair.”</p><p>He chuckled softly. “You’re complaining that I didn’t pour snow down the back of your neck like you did me? Really?”</p><p>Chloe grinned and shook her head, “never said that.”</p><p>“It was implied.” His gaze dropped to her mouth for a moment and he held his breath.</p><p>She turned her head a little more to look better at him then shrugged, “you’re assuming, you know what that means...”</p><p>He grinned softly, brushing some snow off her jacket. “You have a quick comeback for everything, don’t you?” he teased.</p><p>“Kinda necessary when you’re a reporter,” she told him, arching her eyebrows and smiling softly.</p><p>“I suppose so,” he agreed, holding her gaze.</p><p>She shifted, turning fully to face him, “you’re not bad at it yourself.”</p><p>“Kinda necessary when you’re a billionaire,” he joked.</p><p>She grinned softly, “if you let me interview you, we could see who is better,” she said, cocking her head a little.</p><p>“You want to interview me?” He arched his eyebrows.</p><p>“Of course,” she said, shrugging a little, “but I didn’t want to make you uncomfortable.”</p><p>“Well, why do you want to though?” he asked curiously, watching her. “I mean, money aside, my life’s not that interesting.”</p><p>“I think you’re an interesting person,” she admitted, “besides, people are interested in you. And you never give interviews.”</p><p>“Can I decline answering certain questions if I want to?”</p><p>Chloe chewed on her bottom lip and nodded, “yeah. And you can read it before it’s published and I can edit things out if you want.”</p><p>He chewed the inside of his cheek, watching her for a moment. “All right.”</p><p>Her eyes widened as she stared up at him, “really?”</p><p>He nodded ever-so-slightly. “Yeah, really. Why not?”</p><p>“Woah,” she nodded, eyes widening, “okay.”</p><p>Oliver couldn’t help but feel amused at the wide-eyed surprise on her face. He was a little confused at why she was so surprised, but he didn’t question it. “You’re adorable when you’re shell-shocked.”</p><p>She grinned and rolled her eyes, shaking her head, “shut up.”</p><p>His eyes widened a little. “What? It’s true. I’ve never seen you speechless,” he teased.</p><p>“Well, I do talk too much,” she said, smirking at him.</p><p>He smirked back at her, knowing exactly what she was referring to. “Maybe some people need to hear you talk a lot.”</p><p>“But you listen?” She dared, smirking.</p><p>“Even if it doesn’t seem like you’re getting through.” He raised his eyebrows a little.</p><p>“So you’re just pretending not to listen to infuriate me.” She asked, cocking her head.</p><p>“I never pretended not to listen,” he said with a shrug. “I infuriated you?”</p><p>“I was kinda exaggerating,” she admitted, smiling.</p><p>“Oh. Good.” He relaxed a little at her admission, studying her for a moment. “I don’t know about you, but I’m freezing.”</p><p>“Must be the wet neck,” she grinned softly, reaching for more snow.</p><p>He narrowed his eyes at her once more. “I will tackle you into the snow,” he informed her.</p><p>“Maybe running after me will warm you up...” she said, taking a step back.</p><p>“Or we could just go inside like normal people,” he said, eying her suspiciously.</p><p>“What’s the fun in that?” She asked, frowning.</p><p>“Oh, I could think of much more fun ways of warming up that don’t involve running,” he said without thinking about it, smirking.</p><p>Chloe arched her eyebrows, “cocoa and blankies?” She smirked, stepping backward.</p><p>He paused, cocking his head. “Sure.” He took a step toward her, reaching down to scoop up more snow.</p><p>She grinned a little then took off running.</p><p>Oliver laughed softly, then took off after her. Somewhere in the course of the last few hours, she’d managed to make him forget how much he hated this holiday.</p><p>* * *</p><p>By the time they made it back inside, her coat was wet and she was freezing and exhausted, but she had had a good time. She couldn’t remember the last time she had actually had fun like that. If that was a side effect of trying to help Oliver, she’d gladly take it.</p><p>As soon as they were inside, she pulled off her coat and shivered, “fire?” She asked.</p><p>“Yeah, definitely,” he agreed, nodding a little as he led the way back to the den, shedding his own coat and gloves.</p><p>Chloe pulled off her own gloves and slid her fingers through her hair, “I should let my dad know I can’t go home...”</p><p>“Will he be upset?” There was a hint of worry in his voice as he glanced back at her.</p><p>“Not really,” she said with a shrug, “I mean, he can see the snow.”</p><p>“I just don’t want you to get in trouble.” He chewed the inside of his cheek.</p><p>“I don’t usually get in trouble with him,” she admitted. “He might have gone to bed and didn’t even notice I’m not home.”</p><p>He nodded, still looking worried, but moving to the fireplace and setting to work on building a fire.</p><p>“Is it okay for me to stay?” She asked, following him and reaching for her purse.</p><p>“Yeah, it’s fine,” he assured her. “Lex and Lionel won’t be back until January second.”</p><p>“Oh,” she nodded, pulling her boots off, “so we can have an awesome new years eve party here?” She teased.</p><p>He smirked at that. “Only if you want me to be grounded until I turn eighteen.”</p><p>Chloe mock sighed, reaching for her phone in her purse, “I guess that would be an issue with the interview.”</p><p>“Hah. Yeah, just a bit,” he said, shaking his head in amusement as he stoked the fire in the fireplace.</p><p>She checked her phone then texted her dad, explaining the situation but not saying where she was, just that she was at a friend’s. She wasn’t lying, but he didn’t need to worry.</p><p>After a few moments, Oliver raked a hand through his hair and slowly moved over to the sofa where she was sitting. “Better?”</p><p>“Yeah,” she nodded, watching him and smiling a little, “thanks.”</p><p>Oliver offered her a genuine smile as he sat down beside her. “You’re welcome.”</p><p>“So.... this isn’t too bad, is it?” She asked, cocking her head.</p><p>His expression softened. “No. This is nice,” he said softly.</p><p>Chloe smiled and relaxed against the couch, nodding a little, “it was fun.”</p><p>“Yeah, it was,” he agreed.</p><p>She curled her legs on the couch then turned to look at him, “what do we do now?”</p><p>“I don’t know,” he confessed, raising his eyebrows. “What do you usually do on Christmas night?”</p><p>Chloe considered that for a moment and shrugged, “try to get over the food coma, mostly, watch TV I guess. There’s not much to do.”</p><p>He’d never been that into watching TV, so he just nodded and chewed the inside of his cheek. “Or I could finish giving you the tour that got interrupted last time.”</p><p>“I guess you could,” she said, arching her eyebrows.</p><p>“Up to you.” He shrugged.</p><p>“Sounds like fun,” she nodded, “but I have a request before we go.”</p><p>Oliver paused at that, raising his eyebrows. “Sure. Shoot.”</p><p>“Socks?” She asked, arching her eyebrows, “mine are kinda wet.”</p><p>A soft chuckle escaped him at that. Of all the requests she could have had, that was one he hadn’t seen coming. Fortunately, it was also an easy request to grant. “Yeah, absolutely. You can just have a pair of mine. They’ll be way too big, but I promise they’re clean and warm.”</p><p>She grinned a little and nodded, standing up, “as long as they are clean.”</p><p>“They’re in my room,” he told her, also rising to his feet and heading for the door.</p><p>Chloe followed him and nodded a little, “After that, we can resume the tour.” She told him.</p><p>“Cool.” He led her out of the den and down the hall. “They put a tree up in my room.” He groaned a little.</p><p>She smirked when he groaned, “what’s so bad about that?”</p><p>“I don’t need decorations in my bedroom. It’s bad enough the mansion looks like Santa Claus and his elves vomited all over the place.”</p><p>“I don’t know, it helps get in the mood for the holidays.” She told him with a shrug.</p><p>“If you say so,” he answered, arching his eyebrows and pushing open the door to his room. He moved over to his dresser and pulled open one of the drawers, pulling out a pair of clean socks and holding them out to her.’</p><p>Chloe frowned when she followed him into the room, “where is the tree?”</p><p>He motioned to the desktop, where the small tree lay on its side, covered in his clothes.</p><p>She rolled her eyes and reached for the tree, setting it back up and tossing his clothes on the floor. “If you get to eat Christmas food, you need to look at the tree.”</p><p>Oliver made a face. “Why? It’s just a tree.”</p><p>“Because I said so,” she grinned, taking the socks from him and leaning against his bed to slide them on.</p><p>He pursed his lips, shaking his head a little as he watched her. “Got it.”</p><p>“C’mon,” she reached for his wrist once she was done, “where should we start?”</p><p>He glanced down at her hand and smiled a little. “I think we left off at the library, right?”</p><p>“Yeah, but you know what I really wanna see, right?” She asked, smirking.</p><p>Oliver smirked back at her. “The secret passage ways that I have absolutely no knowledge about whatsoever?”</p><p>“Yes,” she grinned, turning to face him and walking backwards, “we’re pretty much alone here, right? Let’s go explore.”</p><p>He couldn’t help but grin, too. The excitement in her eyes was adorable. He followed her without hesitation. “Lead the way, Professor.”</p><p>She grinned brightly at him then turned around again, making her way down the stairs, “probably need to go to the most unused areas of the castle.”</p><p>“Then we’re headed in the right direction,” he teased.</p><p>“Probably not somewhere where the people who work here go to either since they’d be in and out all the time, so that rules out the kitchen and that area,” she told him.</p><p>“Plus I go to the kitchen a lot,” he told her, raising his eyebrows. “So pretty sure there’s nothing there. Maybe in the cellar?”</p><p>“Good start,” she nodded, “where’s that?”</p><p>“Come on.” This time, he was the one who reached for her wrist, pulling her down the corridor that led away from the front of the mansion.</p><p>She made her way over with him, arching her eyebrows, “will we need flashlights?”</p><p>“Nah, there’s a light,” he assured her, turning the corner and heading down another corridor. This one was even more quiet than the last.</p><p>She stepped closer to him, both because the corridor was narrow and because she was colder now.</p><p>They reached the end of it and he unlocked the door, pushing it open and reaching just inside, flipping on the dim light that lit the cellar. “The stairs are narrow. Be careful,” he warned, letting go of her hand and heading down them first.</p><p>Chloe went after him slowly and arched her eyebrows, “ever been here before?”</p><p>“Once, yeah. It’s huge down here.” He trailed his hand along the railing and then turned to face her as he reached the bottom of the steps.</p><p>She stopped at the bottom of the stairs, eyes widening, “wow,” she murmured, glancing at him, “it is huge,” like a cave, really, but wide. “What is all this, wine?”</p><p>“Yeah, mostly. Probably other kinds of alcohol, too.” He shrugged a little, watching as she walked around.</p><p>“Huh, I guess it makes sense considering Lionel seems to like it a lot.”</p><p>“Probably the only thing I actually have in common with him,” Oliver remarked.</p><p>“You like alcohol?” She asked, “I mean, you actually know how to drink and not just get comatose drunk?”</p><p>He gave her a look. “You already know the answer to that.”</p><p>“No I don’t?” She arched her eyebrows, “I mean, I’m not judging, I’m just curious. Because it all tastes pretty bad to me.”</p><p>“It didn’t seem so un-appealing to you in Metropolis,” he pointed out.</p><p>“Those were fruity drinks though and had little alcohol,” she admitted, “but I’m talking about scotch or whiskey or stuff like that.”</p><p>“Scotch is better than whiskey. Richer.” He shrugged a little. “And yeah, I guess I do really kinda like it.”</p><p>“Where did you learn to drink it?” She asked, walking back to him.</p><p>“Excelsior.” He leaned against the stairwell wall.</p><p>“Oh,” she nodded, “that’s cool, I guess.”</p><p>He wondered if she really thought it was cool, or if she was just saying so because she didn’t want to make him feel bad, or think she wasn’t cool. “So how does one find secret passages, anyway?”</p><p>“Well,” she told him, turning away from him, “look for things that are different. slightly different color on the floor or wall, knock on it to see if it makes a different sound, if a part of the surface is higher, stuff like that.”</p><p>“Got it.” Nodding a little, he pushed himself away from the wall and headed to the far side of the room.</p><p>She started right from where they were, as she started to knock on the wall and hit her foot against the floor, slowly looking around.</p><p>“Are you sure there are secret passages here?” he asked, studying the wall.</p><p>“Of course not,” she told him, shrugging, “you’re the one who suggested the cellar.”</p><p>“I meant in the mansion in general.”</p><p>“Oh,” she shook her head, “no. But Lionel likes his secrets, doesn’t he?”</p><p>“Who doesn’t?” he asked quietly.</p><p>Chloe looked over at him at that and frowned a little.</p><p>“Just saying.” He shrugged as he glanced at her.</p><p>She watched him for a moment, “do you think we could find a blueprint of the mansion somewhere in the library?” She asked.</p><p>“Yeah, maybe. If you want to spend the next week searching through every book in there,” he said lightly.</p><p>“Right,” she sighed a little, but kept on looking around. She was getting pretty tired already so as exciting as this sounded, she didn’t think reading through the Luthor library would help her stay awake.</p><p>“You know, we can always get back to this search another time. You’re looking kind of sleepy,” he told her, arching his eyebrows.</p><p>“I’m okay,” she said, knocking on the wall but not looking over at him.</p><p>“All right.” He shrugged a little and did the same.</p><p>She walked all the way down one of the walls then turned around, starting on the side wall slowly.</p><p>He made his way down the same wall she was examining, pausing right before they would have bumped into one another. “Oops.” He smiled.</p><p>She turned to face him and arched her eyebrows, smirking, “watch where you’re going.”</p><p>“Same to you, Blondie,” he teased.</p><p>Chloe grinned up at him then paused, looking above his head, her eyebrows arching and her grin turning into a smirk.</p><p>He cocked his head to the side, quirking his eyebrows curiously at the expression on her face. “What?”</p><p>She hesitated for a second but didn’t answer, instead, she placed her hands on his shoulders and tiptoed, pressing her lips against his.</p><p>Okay, didn’t see that coming, he thought before all thoughts were completely gone from his mind. He reached out, cupping her face in one hand as he kissed her back, his eyes drifting shut.</p><p>Chloe relaxed when he kissed her back, pulling away a moment later and grinning a little before pointing up as she took a deep breath, “mistletoe.”</p><p>He looked up, blinking a few times as he tried to figure out what she was talking about. Then he saw the tiny plant right above their heads and he held his breath. “Oh.”</p><p>“Christmas tradition,” she said, shrugging a little as she looked back at him.</p><p>“Right,” he said, nodding as he met her eyes once more.</p><p>She smiled slightly, unsure of how he was going to react.</p><p>Oliver shifted closer to her, dipping his head and kissing her once more, softly as he let a hand rest at her waist. He pulled back to look at her, his eyes filled with a mixture of emotions. “Was that okay?” he asked softly, uncertain. Before she had a chance to respond, a soft tapping sound resonated through the cellar and he looked up.</p><p>Chloe stilled too, looking up and holding her breath, “did you hear that?”</p><p>“Yeah, but what the hell was it?” he murmured, looking around warily and trying to figure out where the noise had come from.</p><p>“I don’t know,” she pulled away from him slightly and looked around the room, holding her breath when she heard it again. “Can you tell where it’s coming from?”</p><p>Oliver shook his head, feeling very unsettled suddenly. “Old houses make weird noises, right?”</p><p>“Yeah,” she nodded, glancing at him again, “maybe we should get back upstairs.”</p><p>“Yeah, probably,” he agreed, nodding, too and reaching down for her hand.</p><p>Chloe didn’t hesitate before wrapping her fingers around him. “You don’t think the Luthors are back, do you?”</p><p>“No, they’d be making more noise and they would have called for staff to come in before they arrived.” He led the way up the stairs, not letting go of her hand.</p><p>“Makes sense,” she nodded, “you did mention there is a woman here though, right? Maybe she woke up.”</p><p>“Right. Yeah, that could be. Or just the house settling or something. I’m sure it was nothing.” Except he wasn’t.</p><p>“Yeah, especially with it being so cold,” she agreed, pausing when she heard the noise again.</p><p>His hand tightened around hers just a little. “Probably the heater kicking on.”</p><p>“Oh,” Chloe nodded, even though it sounded nothing like it, “good point.”</p><p>When they reached the top of the stairs, he quickly opened the door once more, his heart beating a little faster than usual as he pulled her into the corridor again. He shut the door behind them and locked it without saying a word.</p><p>As soon as he was done locking the door, she tugged on his hand again, pulling him toward the second floor of the mansion where the bedrooms were.</p><p>Oliver followed without hesitation, not even questioning where she was leading.</p><p>She only stopped when they were back in his room, letting go of his hand, she took a deep breath and listened carefully to see if she could still hear the noise.</p><p>They were met with nothing but silence. “Maybe we imagined it?” he suggested.</p><p>“Might have been.” She nodded, shrugging, “I mean, we were snooping around.”</p><p>“Right. And since there’s basically no one else here, we’re probably just being paranoid.”</p><p>“Happens a lot,” she agreed, shrugging a little at him.</p><p>“Of course,” he said, nodding. He looked down at their hands.</p><p>Pursing her lips together, she looked at him then followed his gaze down, her first instinct was to pull her hand away, but she was kind of curious to see what he was going to do.</p><p>Oliver glanced up at her once more, chewing the inside of his cheek. “This has...been pretty much the best Christmas I’ve had since before my parents died,” he admitted quietly.</p><p>Chloe stilled at that, surprised at the words, which caused her chest to tighten instantly, “that’s good,” she whispered, watching him closely, “I... didn’t want you to be on your own.”</p><p>“That means a lot to me,” he whispered back, meeting her eyes. “Thank you.”</p><p>“You’re welcome,” she nodded a little, holding his gaze, “and maybe if you’re still around next year, we can make it even better.”</p><p>“Yeah? How so?” he asked, searching her eyes.</p><p>“Presents, for one,” she smiled softly, “and you could come to dinner with us.”</p><p>He smiled faintly at that, nodding. “I think I’d like that.”</p><p>“Good,” she relaxed a little, “and then we can just hang out after if you want to.”</p><p>“Yeah. Sounds nice.” He smiled a little more, hesitating as he shifted closer to her, lifting his free hand to her cheek once more.</p><p>Pursing her lips together, she looked up at him and smiled a little, “and you know, whenever you change your mind about having friends... you could let me know.”</p><p>“I think I’ve changed my mind,” he whispered, dipping his head and kissing the corner of her mouth.</p><p>She smiled a little more, closing her eyes for a second then looking at him again, her heart skipping a beat, “you have?”</p><p>“Yeah,” he murmured.</p><p>“Good,” she nodded, “my plan worked, then,” she whispered, turning her head a little more toward him.</p><p>“Yes, it did,” he murmured, kissing her again.</p><p>Chloe paused then kissed him back, hesitating before lifting her hands to his sides as she shifted closer.</p><p>Yeah, he thought vaguely as one of his hands wound gently in her hair. Definitely the best Christmas I’ve had in a long time.</p>
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